We, Maria Joseph and Malavika Nair have chosen to review the documentary titled
Prostitutes of God produced and hosted by Sarris as it throws light on one of the scariest practices performed in
Hinduism in the name of god- THE
DEVADASI SYSTEM. Devadasi- Servant of God is a young girl child dedicated to
worship and service a deity or temple for the rest of her life. It’s a
prominent ritual performed mostly in the southern parts of Karnataka. In
Saundatti, a small temple town of Karnataka , young girls are secretly presented
to Yellamma- The Goddess of fertility. This ritual has taken a different turn
in the present scenario where the pre pubertal girls are being sexually
exploited in the pretext of this ritual.
In the
documentary Prostitutes of God, Sarah Harris elucidates the significance of
being a Devadasi in the twenty first century. She focuses on the remote
villages of Karnataka to reveal the dreadful truths of the system, which people
derogated in time as a mode of religious prostitution. Although the practice
was outlawed about 20 years ago, it still prevails in various
regions of India and there are more than
20000 women forced to do prostitution .Their intimate exploration into the life
of the Devadasi reveals a pseudo-religious system that exploits
poverty-stricken families to fuel modern India’s booming sex trade. They meet a
group of sex workers while travelling deep into the outskirts of Karnataka
named Saundatti who vend their bodies
for earning a live hood. They exploits the religious icon Yellamma as a
justification for conducting prostitution. During the journey she meets Anitha
a sex worker who has transformed her house into a brothel and finds no mistake
in the practice because she found it as a means to earn money and fulfill her
small dreams of building a house, purchasing utensils and T.V.As they cross the
border onto Karnataka into the heartlands of the ancient devadasi tradition they
come across two teenage devadasi’s Mala and Belawa who
was denied education. They are restricted to go for any other work and although
they wish to go they nauseated by the disgusting looks they have to encounter.
The poorest families find the system as coping strategy to transform a female
child from liability to asset as she
would be taken over by Landlords who assures a certain amount of regular income .Most of the women consider it
as their responsibility to take care of the family and she does not mind starving
as her only concern is to feed the family. Becoming a devadasi is the only
means to earn money although they feel unhappy their find happiness in taking
care of the family.
Finally
they attend the annual full moon festival, the most prestigious event in
devadasi calendar. The colourful celebrations conceals the underlying secret of
sex trafficking. Sitavva an ex-sex worker agreed for a mock demonstration of
the dedication ceremony. The documentary ends by the reflection of two older
devadasi women who ask the question: what kind of religion turns parents into
pimps and their children into prostitutes.
Both of us decided to chose this documentary as it discusses about one
of the most relevant issues faced in India .It unveils the mysteries of rural
India, the impediments and predicaments if
the downtrodden women. Thus we aim to popularize this documentary thus
providing an insight to the society about the dreadful ritual which pertains in
the society even now.
- Maria 1313120 (1st CEP)
Malavika 1313119 (1st CEP)
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